High-temperature ultrasonic sensor

ABSTRACT

A sensor for ultrasonically measuring a portion of a structure having a temperature significantly above room-temperature, the sensor comprising: a high-temperature portion for intimate contact with the structure, the high-temperature portion comprising at least: at least one transducer for converting a first signal to an ultrasonic transmit signal, and for converting an ultrasonic reflected signal to a second signal; a low-temperature portion comprising at least: at least one digital sensor interface (DSI) to which the transducer is electrically connected, the DSI being configured to transmit the first electrical signal and receive the second electrical signal, and to generate an A-scan signal based on the first and second electrical signals; a wireless interface for transmitting a digital signal based directly or indirectly on at least said A-scan signal; and a battery for powering the DSI and the wireless interface; and an elongated member containing one or more electrical conductors for conducting the first and second signals between the transducer and the DSI, the elongated member being configured to offset the low-temperature portion a sufficient distance away from the high-temperature portion such that the low-temperature portion is subjected to significantly less heat from the structure compared to the high-temperature portion.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based on U.S. Provisional Application No.62/444,037, filed Jan. 9, 2017, and is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a device for ultrasonically monitoring thecondition and integrity of pipes and/or other structures or assets athigh-temperatures, such as those used in the oil and gas and powergeneration industries.

BACKGROUND

Wall thickness and the presence of defects such as cracks are importantfactors in determining the fitness-for-service of structures such asabove- and below-ground pipes and tanks, including bulk material andweldments. When a pipe is in operation, it can be subject to corrosionand/or erosion due to the content, flow and/or environmental conditionsinside or outside of the pipe. Cracks can form and propagate due to thepresence of manufacturing defects, creep, thermal cycling, fatigue andenvironmental conditions causing defects such as high-temperaturehydrogen attack (HTHA), stress-corrosion cracking, etc. Corrosion and/orerosion results in the reduction in wall thickness, which can reach apoint at which operating conditions becomes unsafe, considering that thepipe can be pressurized and may contain hazardous or flammablematerials. Likewise formation and propagation of cracks, in welds forinstance, can cause similar unsafe conditions. A failure may causecatastrophic consequences such as loss of life and environmental damage,leaking pipes, in addition to the loss of the use of the asset, and anycorresponding costs associated with repair, loss of capacity and revenueloss.

Ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques are commonly usedfor evaluating the integrity of industrial components. In the case ofmeasuring wall thickness reduction due to erosion/corrosion, thetraditional process involves using an ultrasonic transducer (probe) tomeasure the wall thickness. The instrument excites the probe via anelectrical pulse, and the probe, in turn, generates an ultrasonic pulsewhich is transmitted through the structure. The probe also receives anecho of the ultrasonic pulse from the structure, and converts the pulseback into an electrical signal. The ultrasonic pulses that aretransmitted into and received from a structure are used to determine therelative position of the surfaces (i.e. thickness) of the structurewall. More specifically, by knowing the travel time of the ultrasonicpulse from the outer wall to the inner wall and back (ΔT) and acousticvelocity (V) of the ultrasonic pulse through the material of thestructure (through calibration or just initialization), a wall thickness(d) can be calculated—i.e. d=ΔT*V/2. Successively measuring thethickness change over time allows for the calculation of a corrosion(erosion) rate for the asset. There are many variants of these two basicdescriptions of ultrasonic thickness gauging and flaw detection that areknown to skilled practitioners of ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation.

Traditionally, an ultrasonic NDE approach involved an operator manuallypositioning a probe on the wall of the asset to take a reading. Not onlydoes this necessitate the operator manually taking each reading, butalso the measurement location must be accessible, which can bechallenging and costly. For example buried pipelines require excavationto access, insulated pipe requires costly removal of the insulation,offshore assets require helicopter or boat access, and elevated vesselsrequiring scaffolding or crane access. While the measurement isrelatively simple, the cost of access (scaffolding, excavation,insulation removal, etc) is often much higher than the cost ofmeasurement. Moreover, the operator is often subjected to hazardousconditions while taking the readings. Furthermore, to obtain trendingdata with thickness resolution of 0.001″ or better requires that thetransducer be placed in the same exact location for consistent readingsat regular time intervals. This is difficult and often impracticalespecially when the data-capture rate needs to be frequent. Variationsin operator and/or equipment also tend to skew the quality and integrityof the measurement data.

One approach for avoiding some of the aforementioned problems is to useinstalled sensors/systems for asset-condition or asset-integritymeasurement. The sensors are permanently or semi-permanently installedon the asset and can take advantage of features such as wireless datatransmission to avoid costly wiring installations. Automated systemsrequire no operator to be in the vicinity of the asset and can streamdata to a control room or to an operator's desk. Current state of theart devices/systems have been shown to be useful and commerciallysuccessful for permanently monitoring structures using ultrasound.

While current state of the art devices are useful and valued forcorrosion monitoring, the applicants have identified severalshortcomings for existing solutions, particularly for measuring hightemperature monitoring.

An important requirement for ultrasonically monitoring structures in oiland gas (O&G) and power generation facilities is a transducer that canwithstand very high-temperatures in the range of 300 to 500° C. Forexample, many piping circuits in a catalytic cracking unit operate inthis temperature range. The traditional approach for measuringhigh-temperature structures is to use portable devices for manualthickness measurement. These devices are designed to operate in thistemperature range only for a short duration at a low duty cycle, andmust be removed from the high-temperature structure before the deviceheats up because the transducer is not constructed to withstand suchtemperatures.

In an installed sensor scenario, the transducer, if placed in contactwith the pipe will achieve nominally the same temperature as the pipeand therefore must be designed to withstand the operating temperature ofthe pipe or asset. Typically, this involves a specialty designedhigh-temperature sensor which is cabled to electronics that are locatedremotely away from the high-temperature structure being monitored. Amajor disadvantage of installed sensor systems with wired transducers isthe cost of long cabling, connectors, cable installation and signaldegradation. Cabling with suitable electrical characteristics andappropriate for the harsh environments can cost several dollars perfoot. Coaxial connectors are also expensive from both a part andassembly cost. Cable and connector costs can easily exceed $50-100. Thehigh-frequency signals that connect the probe to its ultrasonicinstrument degrade considerable over distances as short as 8 meters.Labor costs for the type of industrial wiring and conduits at Oil & Gasor Power Plant sites often renders wiring too costly to be practicalespecially for semi-permanent installations. Additionally, the cabletends to pose a risk of snagging, and thereby becoming disconnected formthe sensors/electronics.

Alternatively, the transducer can be placed remotely, at a distance fromthe pipe, and a waveguide can be used to direct the ultrasonic energy tothe surface of the structure. A commercial product by Permasense offersthis type of solution. While this approach solves the issue ofmaintaining an appropriately lower temperature of the transducer andelectronics, it is generally substandard in ultrasonic performance. Theuse of a waveguide requires lower ultrasonic frequencies that degradethe ability to resolve small wall thicknesses. Furthermore, the end ofthe waveguide ultrasonically presents a line source/receiver that haspoor directivity, resulting in a large ultrasonic spot size in thecomponent. This reduces the ability of the system to resolve smallchanges in wall thickness.

Therefore, Applicants have identified the need for a high-temperature,ultrasonic thickness gauging sensor that can be permanently installeddirectly on the surface of a high-temperature structure without the needfor waveguides, while avoiding the complexity, inconvenience and cost ofcables. The present invention fulfills this need among others.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

The invention relates to a permanently-installed sensor which isconfigured to withstand very high-temperatures by segregating the sensorinto a two different portions—i.e., a high-temperature portion,containing a high-temperature transducer configured for contact with thehigh-temperature structure, and a low-temperature portion, offset fromthe high-temperature portion, and containing heat-sensitive electronicsthat capture, process, and transmit the ultrasonic signals. The offsetis sufficient to place the heat-sensitive components beyond the hightemperature of the structure. Thus, commercially available electronicsensor components can be used in the sensor. Furthermore, in oneembodiment, the low-temperature portion also contains a wirelessinterface and battery, thereby avoiding the need to interconnect thesensors with cables as discussed above.

The high-temperature sensor of the present invention provides for anumber of significant benefits. For example, the high-temperatureportion comprises a transducer that is configured to contact thehigh-temperature structure directly, and thus transmit and receiveultrasonic signals directly to and from the surface of the structure,thereby avoiding the use of waveguide as describe above, which candegrade the quality of the ultrasonic signal. Additionally, in oneembodiment, the sensor is battery operated and wireless and thus can beinstalled without the cost and inconvenience of having to run cables. Inyet another embodiment, the high-temperature and low-temperatureportions are connected with a rigid elongated member, thereby providinga unitary, discrete sensor which can be readily attached to a structure.Still other benefits will be obvious to those of skill in light of thisdisclosure. Accordingly, one aspect of the invention is ahigh-temperature sensor having a high-temperature portion and alow-temperature portion, offset form the high-temperature portion forcontaining the heat-sensitive components of the sensor. In oneembodiment, the sensor comprises: (1) a high-temperature portion forintimate contact with the structure, the high-temperature portioncomprising (i) at least one transducer for converting a first signal toan ultrasonic transmit signal, and for converting an ultrasonicreflected signal to a second signal; (2) a low-temperature portioncomprising (i) at least one digital sensor interface (DSI) to which thetransducer is electrically connected, the DSI being configured totransmit the first electrical signal and receive the second electricalsignal, and to generate an A-scan signal based on the first and secondelectrical signals; and (ii) a wireless interface for transmitting adigital signal based directly or indirectly on at least the A-scansignal; and (3) an elongated member containing one or more conductorsfor conducting the first and second signals between the transducer andthe DSI and configured to offset the low-temperature portion asufficient distance away from the high-temperature portion such that thelow-temperature portion is subjected to significantly less heat from thestructure compared to the high-temperature portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of one embodiment of the sensor of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a specific embodiment of the hightemperature sensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, one embodiment of a sensor 100 of the presentinvention is shown. The sensor is configured for ultrasonicallymeasuring a portion of a structure 150 having a temperature (e.g., 300to 500° C.) significantly above room-temperature. The sensor comprises:a high-temperature portion 101 for intimate contact with the structureand a low-temperature portion 102 offset from the high-temperaturestructure. The high-temperature portion 101 comprises at least onetransducer 110 for converting a first signal to an ultrasonic transmitsignal, and for converting an ultrasonic reflected signal to a secondsignal. The low-temperature portion 102 comprises at least one digitalsensor interface (DSI) 120 to which the transducer 110 is electricallyconnected. The DSI 120 is configured to transmit the first electricalsignal and receive the second electrical signal, and to generate anA-scan signal based on the first and second electrical signals. Thelow-temperature portion in this embodiment also comprises a wirelessinterface 122/121 for transmitting a digital signal based directly orindirectly on at least the A-scan signal. The high and low-temperatureportions are connected by an elongated rigid member 103. The member 103is configured to space the low-temperature portion 102 a sufficientdistance away from the high-temperature portion 101 such that asignificant portion of heat from the structure 150 does not reach thelow-temperature portion. The elongated rigid member contains one or moreconductors 130 for conducting the first and second signals between thetransducer and the DSI.

Importantly, the transducer is constructed as a simple mechanicalconstruction with no bonded materials and all transducer materials areselected of inorganic substances that are not subject to significantdegradation at the maximum temperature of operation. Conversely,standard UT transducers are stacked construction of matching layers,piezoceramic, electrodes, backing materials and so on, such componentsbeing assembled with adhesives such as structural epoxies. Theseadhesive materials and some of acoustic materials are organic materialsand are subject to varying amounts of degradation when temperaturesexceed about 200° C. Furthermore, the rigid bonds do not allow for freeexpansion and contraction as the temperature of the transducer changes.This creates stresses that tend to cause delamination of the componentsafter many temperature cycles.

To address this, in one embodiment, the disclosed transducer comprises ametallic delay line 111 that is used to couple sound from thepiezoelectric element 110 to the structure surface 150 a. A delay linetype of transducer is not necessarily configured to thermally separatethe element from the high-temperature pipe, but rather to provide for anultrasonic entry echo that provides an accurate timing reference for thewall thickness measurement. The delay line is generally cylindrical inshape but could be other shapes and/or could contain mounting featuressuch as flanges. The delay line has two important surfaces—in the caseof the exemplary cylindrical geometry, these surfaces are the ends ofthe cylinders. Each surface is prepared such that it is flat to lessthan approximately 1 wavelength of green light (510 nm) so that they areconducive to dry coupling the delay line to the asset on one end and tothe ultrasonic element on the other.

The piezoelectric element 110 is affixed to the delay line 111. Animportant aspect of the piezoelectric element is that it has a curietemperature that is preferably twice that of the operating temperature.Exemplary element materials include, for example, Lithium Niobate,Aluminum Nitride and YCOB. The element does not have any electrodes inthat the delay line and backing materials 112 (described below) areconductive and therefore provide the electrical connection to theelement. The element is prepared to be flat and parallel to less thanapproximately 1 wavelength of green light in order to dry couple theelement to the delay line and backing. Importantly, it should be notedthat even small air gaps can block the transmission of ultrasonic energybetween the ceramic and delay line and therefore maintaining smooth,flat and polished surfaces is important. A pressurization assembly istypically used to compress the piezoelectric element against the delayline to ensure an acoustical coupling.

The high-temperature portions, in one embodiment, comprises additionalcomponents, including, for example, the backing element 112, electricalcontact 117, insulating sleeve 113, and washer 114, spring 116 andthreaded plunger 118. These components are contained within a housing115 which is mechanically attached to the delay line 111.

The backing 112 is an important component in that it must be conductivein order to provide an electrode of the element. Additionally, becauseit is in contact with the piezoelectric element it can conductultrasound and therefore cause noise echoes in the transducer.Therefore, the material should be lossy to the transmission ofultrasound. The material should also be strong enough to withstand themechanical load that is applied through it to the piezoelectricmaterial. The inventors have found that a partially sintered, powdermetal compact containing at least 10% porosity provides suitableresults, although other embodiments are possible. High strength,high-temperature alloys such as Inconel are also preferred.

Electrical conductors 130 are electrically connected to the backing 112.The electrical conducts 130 comprise a high-temperature wire such as anickel or nichrome wire. The electrical connection can be accomplishedby brazing the wire directly to the backing or it can be accomplishedmechanically with a separate electrical contact 117 that is alsoconductive and provides an electrical attachment via welding, brazing orthreaded fastener. In an exemplary embodiment, the electrical attachmentis a metallic cup that contains the backing. This mechanicallyconstrains the backing from lateral expansion.

In one embodiment, an insulating ring 113 and washer 114 are used tocenter the assembly and electrically isolate it from the othertransducer components. Generally, the case 115 and delay line 111comprise components having one electrical potential (ground) and thebacking and contact components are at another potential (hot). Theseinsulating components should be made of high-temperature, inorganicmaterials such as Macor, Alumina, or some other high-temperature ceramicmaterial.

A spring 116 and plunger 118 are used to urge the above-mentionedcomponents together. Specifically, the spring allows for axial expansionand contraction of the transducer and must be constructed ofhigh-temperature materials such as Inconel. The plunger could be inseveral forms but generally is a threaded component that compresses theentire stack as it is tightened. In an exemplary embodiment the plungeris hollow to allow the electrical conductors 130 to pass through.

A wireless transducer implies that electronics, including amicrocontroller, pulser/receiver, wireless transceiver, battery, etc areintegrated with the transducer in one physical housing. Since thesecomponents are not available rated to withstand the required operatingtemperature, it is necessary to construct the transducer such that theelectronics are positioned far enough away from the operating to achievean operating temperature that is acceptable. Thus, while the disclosedtransducer can operate at very high-temperatures (500° C.), the upperoperating temperature of typical electronics and batteries is 65° C.,more or less.

Accordingly, the high and low-temperature portions are connected by anelongated member 103, thereby offsetting the low-temperature portionfrom the structure 150, and away from the heat. The elongated membermust be long enough to place the electronics in a more temperate zonethan the surface of the asset being measured. Typically, the offsetdistance is approximately 5 to 100 cm, 10 to 50 cm, or 20 to 40 cm,greater than 5 cm, greater than 10 cm, greater than 20 cm, less than 100cm, less than 80 cm, less than 60 cm, less than 50 cm, less than 40 cm,or about 30 cm, but could vary in design based on the use case of thetransducer (pipe temperature, insulation, ambient temperature, etc.).

In one embodiment, the attachment between transducer is rigid, so thatthe attachment of the transducer to the pipe constitutes the completemounting of the transducer and electronics. The rigid attachment iscomposed of a tubular structure and can be designed to be a separatemechanical component from the transducer and electronics housings or itcan be integral. Optionally, a heat shield, 140, could be placed on therigid attachment member between the transducer and sensor electronics tofurther isolate the temperature.

Importantly, in one embodiment of the invention, the sensor incorporatesa temperature measurement device in or near the ultrasonic transducer inorder to monitor the temperature of the test subject 150. Temperaturemeasurement is necessary because the ultrasonic velocity of the testsubject is dependent on the temperature, causing shifts in temperatureto appear as changes in wall thickness. The magnitude of the effect isapproximately 1% change in reading per 55 degrees C. A sensorincorporating a temperature measurement device allows for thetemperature effect to be removed. Typical temperature measurementdevices that could be incorporated in the ultrasonic sensor includethermocouples and resistance temperature devices (RTDs). The temperaturemeasurement device is installed in the high temperature portion of thesensor and is wired back to the sensing electronics in the lowtemperature portion through elongated member.

The sensor electronics of the present invention is similar, in manyrespect to that disclosed in 2016/0274065, application Ser. No.14/839,694, and application Ser. No. 15/841,040, all of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety, including those referencesincorporated by reference therein.

The low-temperature portion typically contains the digital sensorinterface, DSI 120, battery 122, wireless transceiver 123 and antenna121. The DSI 120 may comprise following general functional blocks:pulser circuit, receiver circuit containing at minimum an antialiasingfilter and amplifier, A/D converter, and microprocessor. The enclosure124 could be one or several pieces and could be constructed of metal orplastic as is suitable.

Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a specific embodiment of thehigh temperature sensor is shown. A transducer 101 in thehigh-temperature portion is integrated with a DSI 300 in the lowtemperature portion to form a unitary sensor as shown in FIG. 1. In oneembodiment, the DSI comprises transmit and receive circuitry in the formof a UT Block 301, which includes a pulser circuit to excite theultrasonic transducer and a receiver circuit composed of one or morevoltage controlled amplifiers (VCA) to amplify and condition thereceived signal prior to digitization. Additionally, analog filtercircuits such as a low pass anti-aliasing filter and high pass filtermay be included. A trigger circuit is provided from the microcontrollerto fire the pulser. The microcontroller governs the timing of triggerpulses and implements the aforementioned ETS scheme. The UT pulser iseither constructed to produce a low voltage square wave excitation or isdesigned as a “ring up” type of pulser to produce a higher voltageexcitation. The receiver circuit contains one or more stages ofamplification and attenuation to appropriately size the incoming voltagewaveform prior to digitization. The receiver section may also containanalog filters to condition the signal and may implement highpass, lowpass or band pass filters.

The analog signal from the UT block 301 feeds into an A/D converter 303,which, in one embodiment, is integrated into the processor 304, toconvert the analog voltage waveform to a digital signal. The raw data aswell as other outputs and/or results are then sent to an attachedmicrocontroller 304. The microcontroller serves to manage operation ofthe DSI including power management through activating the various blocksof the circuit when needed.

A wireless transceiver 123 is either integrated within the MCU or isprovided as a separate module to provide the functionality of datatransmission. The transceiver can be implemented with known wirelesscommunication technologies including, for example, ISA100, WirelessHART,LORA, Wi-Fi, cellular, telemetry, Blue Tooth, Blue Tooth Low Energy,ZigBee, Z-wave, and any other known wireless communication technology.It is particularly advantageous to use a technology such as LORA whichhas a long range, star topology as the device and radio can maintain alow-power state at all times that the individual device is not beingrequired to measure and transmit as opposed to a mesh network where thetransceiver must always be in a state where it is prepared to relaymessages from other devices. The transceiver is connected to an antennathat is either internally or externally mounted to the device, oralternatively the antenna connection is routed to an external RFconnector for attachment to a remote antenna. The use of a remoteantenna can be advantageous for difficult RF environments.

Additionally, in one embodiment the DSI also comprises variousperipheral components to the microprocessor, including, for example, aReal Time Clock 306, temperature sensor interface 307, and serial EEPROMmemory 308.

Because of the sensor's modularity, the process for converting theA-scan signal to thickness data can be performed anywhere in the sensoror outside the sensor (e.g., in the Cloud or discrete device that iswireless connected to the sensor). For example, the DSI can beconfigured to generate the thickness data from the A-scan signal, or,alternatively, the sensor may transmit the information for processingelsewhere. Generally, determining when and where to calculate thethickness data from the A-scan signal is a question of optimization. Forexample, it may be preferable to convert the A-scan signal to thicknessdata in the DSI to save on storage space/transmission energy because theA-scan signal data consumes more space than the thickness data. On theother hand, converting this signal to thickness data tends to requiremore processing power. Generally, although not necessarily,sophisticated calculations such as phased array, full matrix capture,and total focusing method calculations and/or data analysis tends to bebetter suited for implementation in the cloud. In addition, a cloudbased service is well suited to calculating and communicating alarmsderived from the inspection results through media such as text messagingor email.

In one embodiment, the transceiver transmits the A-scan signal orsimilar signal in essentially “raw” form, along with the derived wallthickness data. For example, the A scan can be sent periodically (e.g.,every 5th reading) for validation purposes, and/or upon an event (e.g.substantial change in results), again for validation.

In one embodiment, the processor is instructed to be configured to placethe sensor in a low-power state between readings. In one embodiment, theprocessor is instructed to wake up from a low power state to initiatemeasure of the structure on a predetermined interval. For example, inone embodiment, the predetermined interval is between 1 minute and 1year.

In one embodiment, the data signal is transmitted to a discrete wirelesscollection device. In one embodiment, the wireless collection devicecomprises a wireless gateway that is connected to a Local Area Network(LAN). In one embodiment, the gateway transmits the data signal acrossthe LAN to a local server. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the gatewaytransmits the data signal across the LAN to a remote data server. In oneembodiment, the server (local or remote) hosts a data viewingapplication. In one embodiment, the wireless collection device storesthe data signal until the data signal is collected using a handheld datacollection device. In one embodiment, the handheld data collectiondevice is connected to the wireless data collection device using a cableor over a wireless link such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

Having thus described a few particular embodiments of the invention,various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occurto those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, andimprovements as are made obvious by this disclosure are intended to bepart of this description though not expressly stated herein, and areintended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only, andnot limiting. The invention is limited only as defined in the followingclaims and equivalents thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sensor for ultrasonically measuring a portionof a structure having a temperature significantly aboveroom-temperature, said sensor comprising: a high-temperature portion forultrasonically coupling with said structure, said high-temperatureportion comprising at least: at least one transducer for converting afirst signal to an ultrasonic transmit signal, and for converting anultrasonic reflected signal to a second signal; a low-temperatureportion comprising at least: at least one digital sensor interface (DSI)to which said transducer is electrically connected, said DSI beingconfigured to transmit said first electrical signal and receive saidsecond electrical signal, and to generate an A-scan signal based on saidfirst and second electrical signals; a communication interface fortransmitting a digital signal based directly or indirectly on at leastsaid A-scan signal; and a battery for powering said DSI and saidwireless interface; and an elongated member connecting said hightemperature portion and said low temperature portion, said elongatedmember being sufficient rigid and long to hold said low-temperatureportion a sufficient distance away from said high-temperature portionsuch that said low-temperature portion is subjected to significantlyless heat from said structure compared to said high-temperature portion.2-24. (canceled)